Sunday, March 09, 2008

Some people may still thought that they were dreaming when they woke up this morning and realised that their own states are now being ruled by the coalition of opposition parties. It may take time to have that fact sink in the people's head.

While BN retains the federal government; BN lost Five (5) states. Yes read that again, 5 states; I am not kidding. PAS retains Kelantan in a more comfortable margins and the oppositions took control of Selangor, Penang, Perak and Kedah.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Barisan Nasional will form the next Government as it has won more than half the parliamentary seats.

However, the coalition suffered some of the greatest defeats in its history. Barisan Nasional chairman Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, in accepting the results, said this was clear proof of democracy at work in the country.

Meanwhile, party leaders urged for calm and police have banned all victory celebrations.

On Kelantan, a day before the polling day, the people in Kelantan knew that the GE2008 would be the dirtiest ever general elections and they resigned to the fact that they might not able to stop the phantom/clone voters so what they did was they held a massive sembahyang hajat session lead by Tuan Guru himself. The Sultan Mohamed IV stadium was filled to the brim.So as other places.

My brother told me, the people were upset with SPR's alleged collaboration with the ruling party on the phantom voters/clone voters issue. They put up a banner that reads,

And in Kelantan, in particular, the people know and they understand this concept of God is Great very well indeed.

I wanted to blog more, but today, this whole Sunday I will be spending the whole day finalising documents to be sent to a client's solicitors in NZ. They were expecting the documents by 9.00AM tomorrow NZ time. And they are 5 hours earlier than in KL.

You can only feel the sentiments, the solidarity and the 'thinking' of the people of Kelantan if you are there, right in thick of the action; and not from what you read in the major newspapers or from what they dish out in the TVs.

PUTRAJAYA: The Election Commission has cancelled the use of indelible ink in polling this Saturday, citing public order and security reasons.

Its chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said following a meeting held Tuesday, the EC was obliged to make a firm and final decision to ensure the smooth conduct of the 12th general election.

He said provisions to the law needed if the ink was to be used still could not affect the constitutional right of a voter to cast his vote, even a person whose fingernail had been marked with indelible ink or one who refuses to have his or her fingernail marked this way.

"From a practical point of view, the issuance of a ballot paper to such a voter would render the EC's proposal meaningless and will not bring about a positive result, whilst having the potential to create misunderstanding as well as altercations and arguments at polling stations," he said.

The Federal Constitution gives you the right to vote, and a black mark on your fingernail should not bar you from exercising this right, he said.

Abdul Rashid said there were also reports made to the police confirming that certain irresponsible quarters had purchased indelible ink from abroad with the intention of creating confusion and suspicion as to the status of voters.

"The EC views these issues seriously as the election process and public order and security cannot be compromised," he said.

The use of indelible ink was first proposed last June to safeguard against multiple or phantom voting. Abdul Rashid then said that the system would be subject to amendments to the Election (Conduct of Election) Regulation 1981.

He said indelible ink had been chosen over other measures, such as a biometric system working off the MyKad (chip-based identity card carried by all Malaysians above the age of 12) because such such smartcard readers would have cost about RM60,000 each, and every voting stream would have to be equipped with one. Using such a system would have cost in excess of RM30mil. The commission bought about 47,000 bottles of the indelible ink, manufactured in India, for RM2mil.

Seriously, what the hell is this? What is happening in this country?

First, they suggested indelible ink;Then they got the fatwa to confirm that it is OK;Then they went ahead to import/purchase from India (for RM2.0million and I kid you not);AND now they announced that they were scrapping the idea.

I thought it was only yesterday they said that the ink have been despatched to state voting centres.

Prior to the nomination day, the EC came with the ruling on the need of stamping on the statutory declaration for the contestants to comply. After much noise and objections, the EC retract the ruling.

Is the ruling party too afraid of taking the opposition head on fairly?.

Is this something got to do with some of the allegation of potential vote rigging exposed by Husam?.